Patent Document 1 discloses a connector assembly wherein, in a receptacle electrical connector connected to a circuit board (hereinafter referred to as the “receptacle connector”) and a plug electrical connector that mates therewith (hereinafter referred to as the “plug connector”), multiple terminals are arranged in parallel on the surface of planar substrates made of an electrically insulating material and multiple blades are disposed in parallel in the through-thickness direction of said blades.
In this Patent Document 1, the two connectors, that is, the receptacle connector (“counterpart connector body” in Patent Document 1) and the plug connector (“intermediate electrical connector” in Patent Document 1), have multiple blades, and the two connectors are mated through the medium of a mating portion formed in the front section of the respective housings.
Both the receptacle connector and the plug connector have slot-shaped blade holding portions formed in their housings and the blades are rigidly secured in place by press-fitting the edge portions located on both sides of said blades into said blade holding portions.
The housing of the receptacle connector has two parallel wall portions, a receiving portion is formed in a central space that receives two central blades of the plug connector between the two wall portions and, along with being secured in place at the respective exterior wall surfaces of the two wall portions, the blades are secured in place at the surface of the two opposed interior walls of the above-mentioned receiving portion. In each blade, multiple contact portions are positioned within the range of the above-mentioned mating portion in the connector-mating direction. While the blades located within the above-mentioned receiving portion are rigidly secured in place on the surface of the interior walls of the receiving portion, the contact portions of the terminals arranged on said blades protrude from the end portions of the substrates of said blades and are made resiliently displaceable. By contrast, in the respective blades rigidly secured in place on the exterior wall surface of the two wall portions, the position of the contact portions of the terminals is fixed and cannot be resiliently displaced. In other words, in this receptacle connector, the blades holding terminals with resiliently displaceable contact portions that are located within the receiving portion have components of a female-type electrical connector, and on the exterior wall surface of the two wall portions, on which entire terminals, including the contact portions, are rigidly secured in place, there are components of a male-type electrical connector.
For the purpose of positioning during mating with the counterpart plug connector, in the latitudinal end portions of the housing of the above-mentioned receptacle connector outside the latitudinal range of the above-mentioned blades of said receptacle connector, in other words, outside the terminal array range of the blades, the wall thickness of said end walls is increased while at the same time their width is made slightly narrower, thereby providing this receptacle connector of Patent Document 1 with prismatic guides (“narrow portions” in Patent Document 1) protruding in the direction of mating.
In contrast, the housing of the plug connector has side walls located on the outside of each of the two side walls of the receptacle connector when the connectors are mated, and the two central blades are positioned at a center location between these two side walls, with the rear faces of their substrates placed in mutual surface contact. These two central blades are positioned in the above-mentioned mating portion in a manner permitting entry into the receiving portion of the above-mentioned receptacle connector. Spaces that receive the wall portions of the receptacle connector are formed between the two central blades and the side walls, and, in addition to the above-mentioned two central blades, blades are secured in place at the interior wall surface of each of the above-mentioned two side walls. In the same manner as in the receptacle connector, in each blade, multiple contact portions are located within the range of the above-mentioned mating portion in the connector-mating direction. The contact portions secured in place on the blades, including the contact portions of the terminals arranged on the surface of the above-mentioned two central blades, cannot be resiliently displaced, and the contact portions of the terminals of the blades secured in place on the interior wall surface of the side walls protrude from the end portions of the substrates of the blades and are resiliently displaceable. In other words, in the same manner as the above-mentioned receptacle connector, this plug connector has components of a female-type electrical connector with resiliently displaceable contact portions and components of a male-type electrical connector, in which entire terminals, including the contact portions, are rigidly secured in place.
In addition, in the plug connector, guide grooves (“recessed portions” in Patent Document 1) intended to be guided along the guides provided on the end walls of the above-mentioned receptacle connector are formed in the thickened end walls.
Thus, the receptacle connector and plug connector are oriented for mutual mating, the guides of the receptacle connector are inserted into the guide grooves of the plug connector and are guided by said guide grooves, thereby providing for positioning in the through-thickness direction of the blades as well as in the terminal array direction and accomplishing mutual mating as the insertion continues.
In the mated state, the blades positioned within the receiving portion of the receptacle connector undergo resilient displacement in the contact portions of their terminals and come into contact with the contact portions of the terminals of the two central blades of the plug connector under contact pressure, while the blades positioned on the interior wall surface of the side walls of the plug connector undergo resilient displacement in the contact portions of their terminals and come into contact with the contact portions of the terminals positioned on the exterior wall surface of the wall portions of the receptacle connector under contact pressure.